Amanda has completed her cross country journey and is now living in Baltimore, Maryland. She is done with the traveling part of her journey and now has to concentrate on getting a job. Today she files a report on how she is feeling about this new portion of her life.
Sophie Lynne, our Book Pundit, reviews Brynn Tannehill’s book “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Trans (But were afraid to ask.” Ms. Tannehill is a writer and transgender advocate who has written for OutServe magazine, The New Civil Rights Movement, and The Bilerico Project as a blogger and featured columnist. Read on and see what Sophie thinks of Ms. Tannehill’s book about transgender issues in 2019.
One of the big problems for people in gender transition is how to get friends and associates to not just accept them as their true self but to remember to use their new name. “Deadnaming” is what it’s called and while those who don’t accept gender transitions as real will always use a person’s deadname, just because they can, they will do it to delegitimize you. To them you will always be a freak. But what about those who have accepted your transition but have a problem remembering to use your new name? Claire Hall has some thoughts on the situation.
Linda wraps up her story about her friend Claire who started and still lives a large part of her life as Calvin, the mild-mannered retired banker who in the evenings would shed his male clothes and emerge as Claire the wonder escort of the Toronto sex trade scene.
Today our Page Pundit reviews a collection of cartoons about transition titles Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition. An Up and Out Collection by Julia Kaye. Julia Kaye is an American artist and illustrator.
Claire likes to celebrate not just her birthday but the anniversary of the day she regards as her “rebirthday.” That’s the day when she made the firm decision to abandon her male masquerade and live the rest of my life as who she always knew she was — a woman.
Welcome a new contributor to TGForum. Ashli Kleier begins a series on how she isn’t the typical trans woman who always knew she was a female. She feels that she made the discovery of her femininity. Born and raised in a small town in the South Ashli begins her tale with the story of her early years and first encounters with feminine attire. Chapter 1, My Early Years.
Linda is recounting a story heard from a long-time trans girl, now more a trans grande dame. We have heard that dire circumstances led her in to the bed of a generous host who gradually recruited her into the world’s oldest profession. Claire eventually leaves town and apparently leaves the lifestyle. However, a chance encounter. . . .
Pauline Estelle is one of a number of members of the transgender community who feels the need to express a feminine side now and then but is content being a male for the rest of the time. She has an arrangement with her spouse that gives her a certain number of days per week that she can dress up but often one thing or another may interfere with her plans and she has to present as male for the day. Then, if this happens too many days in a row, she feels a greater need to let Pauline get out and about. Today Pauline wonders, because of the way she handles her dressing, if she is truly bi-gendered.
Amanda has finally reached the point when she knows she has to leave California and head east. She realizes that there’s no place like home and a return to Pittsburgh is the right thing to do. But. . . she has to solve a couple of problems first. The big problem is The Kid. Her roommate who gave her a place to stay when she could not longer afford rent at her old place. The Kid is clingy, needy, and Amanda is sure she won’t take the news that she’s leaving at all well. So telling The Kid is problem number one. But there are a few others that are influenced by The Kid problem.
Sophie Lynne, our Page Pundit, reviews two books today. “Gracefully Grayson” is a young adult novel aimed at middle school children. Written by a cisgender female author it tells the story of Grayson, born male but drawn to feminine expression. Grayson wants to play Persephone in the school’s theatrical production. The second review is of a book aimed at younger children. It tells the story of the title character, “George” who would rather be Melissa. Melissa has an opportunity to present herself to the world as her true self and it’s also by playing a female character in the school play.
Claire Hall asks if she is a transgender woman? A woman who happens to be transgender? Or simply a woman? After transitioning and beginning her life again as Claire she is still not clear on the answer. For the first weeks and months the joy of being herself after years of frustration kept her feeling a natural high. But then the current political climate that allows anti-transgender messages to seep from our capital brought on a bout of depression. out of that depression Claire found an answer to her question.
We are joined today by new Contributor Lynda Martini! Lynda is a trans woman from New Jersey who is currently going through her transition. She is a girl who loves to go out and about and have fun. She brings a fresh voice to TGForum and writes about the good things she has found by coming out of the closet. One of those things is the joy of dancing. Her inaugural post, after she introduces herself to you, is all about dancing and how she has come to enjoy the activity after she became Lynda.
If you have a nagging feeling that something is not right it could be anything. Especially with the current situation domestically and across the globe. But if your “feeling” is that there is something wrong between your body and your mind then what you’re feeling is most likely gender dysphoria. Body configuration and the gender of your spirit are not in sync. Today Claire Hall writes about how to cope with this condition, both before and after transition.
Our politics reporter, Babs Casbar Siperstein, has been missing from TGForum for too long. Her work as a transgender activist and champion of trans rights was halted by a serious disease. We’re happy to welcome her back to our pages with this report on what has been happening in New Jersey politics and what Babs has been going through.
Our youth correspondent M is now in college and they are taking a psychology class. As a class assignment students were tasked with doing a 10 to 20 minute presentation on anything personal relating to psychology. M chose to talk about gender dysphoria, and they chose to close the presentation by coming out to the class. Find out how that went and read today’s Youth View.
Today our Page Pundit, Sophie Lynne, reviews a young adult novel titled The Rules of Me. Though it doesn’t have a transgender theme as such it is about teens trying to find their identity. The point of view character is not even sure he actually exists. The main character, seen from his perspective is a young woman who is also finding herself, and growing up. Sophie’s review is unbiased, even though she knows the author. Check out this first YA novel by Melanie Moyer and give our Page Pundit’s review a read.
Cheryl Ann “Cassie” Sanders writes today about her theory of reincarnation. To her it is very personal and possibly “not safe for work” since it involves the evocation of one certain man during her self pleasuring fantasies. He seems to be familiar and loving, not just a fantasy creation the enable the activity. Cassie feels a connection to him that she thinks goes back into a past life.
For trans kids life can be a real burden. It’s hard enough being a teen and going through puberty when you’re not feeling there is something wrong with your body because your gender identity is congruent with your body. When you are “differently gendered” those teen years can be a real trial. That’s why some young people just suffer in silence. Sabrina Symington has a commenting cartoon for you that explains a lot.
There is almost always a rush of adrenaline when a biological male goes out in public presenting their feminine side to the world. Our contributor Linda Jensen feels that the thrill of being out dressed comes as much from the possibility of getting caught as it does from wearing the clothes. Sophie Lynne writes about how when she first started to express her true self by going out to support group meeting and the local transgender party she felt that thrill. It contrasts with the adrenaline rush she gets now that she is living as her true self 24/7. It’s less of a thrill now and more like fear of lurking danger.
Years ago on TGForum Laurie Sheril did a series of articles on drag in the cinema. She started back in the days of silent film and worked her way forward in time to the ’90s. Today we dip into the TGForum Archives to bring you her review of a holy relic of crossdressing — the Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis classic film Some Like It Hot.
Males and females have been assigned different characteristics by our evolving culture. Men are “supposed” to be stoic, unemotional, problem solvers. Women are “supposed” to be more willing to share things and support their female friends. While guys bury their problems and talk about football and cars, women listen to their friend’s and don’t try to immediately solve their problem. Claire Hall’s post talks about how she has experienced a shift from the stereotypically male approach to friendship and embraced the feminine model of friendship.
M hadn’t been feeling so good and two things happened that gave them a much needed boost. We don’t want to give it away since it would undercut you need to read M’s post. Let it suffice to say that you will most likely rejoice with M when they share the news. Read on to learn what perked them up.
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s a hitchhiking trip across the country could be a life changing experience. That was probably never truer than for Claire who told Linda how she started hitchhiking across Canada as Calvin and returned on the road to becoming Claire. The tale is long and yes, there is some sexual activity so it’s NSFW but you’ll be drawn along on Calvin’s journey, across the continent and across gender borders, and sexual boundries.
Claire Hall has only recently transitioned and for her everything has gone pretty smoothly. One problem she has faced is criticism from people who can’t wrap their heads around the fact that trans women are real women. It’s the old complaints — “He looks like a man in a dress.” “All this person is about is clothes and makeup.” “It takes more than a pair of heels and some lipstick to be a woman.” Claire hits back, in a ladylike manner, in today’s post. Does she seem to take delight in feminine attire? Yes. Because for years she denied herself those clothes and the other things that go with her true gender. Read her post for all of her thoughts on what it is that makes you a real woman.
